Collector for an air-conditioning unit for vehicles

ABSTRACT

Improved collector for an air-conditioning unit for vehicles comprising a cylindrical pipe ( 11, 11 ′) provided at one end with an opening ( 11 A) for the insertion of an integrated filtering and/or drying means, a substantially cylindrical cap ( 100 ) that can be inserted axially into the opening ( 11 A), as well as a stop element ( 20 ), which can be positioned on the top of the cap ( 100 ) and in engagement with the cylindrical pipe ( 11, 11 ′), wherein the stop element is an elastic safety ring ( 20 ) comprising a C-shaped body ( 22 ) and plurality of wings projecting outwards ( 23 ) coplanar to the body ( 22 ) and wherein the cylindrical pipe ( 11, 11 ′) is provided in a portion adjacent to the opening ( 11 A) with a plurality of slits, or slots, ( 21 ) lying on a common diametric plane and suitable for housing the wings ( 23 ) of a shape substantially matching the shape of the slits ( 21 ) and in a position corresponding to the same slits ( 21 ).

The present invention refers to an improved collector for an air-conditioning unit for vehicles.

An air-conditioning unit for vehicles comprises, amongst other things, a condenser, a drying means for removing water particles from the cooling liquid and a filtering element for holding impurities possibly present in the cooling liquid.

As an alternative to the arrangement of a separate dehydrating filter, arranged in the air-conditioning unit between the condenser and the expansion valve, it has become common to integrate a drying means and a filtering element directly into a collector pipe of the condenser.

The condenser provided with an integrated dehydrating filter therefore has the task of removing water particles from the cooling liquid, filtering impurities possibly present in the cooling liquid and acting as an accumulator for a certain amount of liquid.

The drying means and the filtering element, for example contained in a rigid or semi-rigid casing that can be made from various materials and can be of various types, must generally be replaced after a certain operating period of the air-conditioning unit.

Alternatively, the drying means could be contained in permeable bags structurally separate from the filtering element. Also in this case it is suitable for the individual components to be able to be replaced by accessing inside the collector.

The collector pipe is thus provided at a cylindrical end thereof with a removable cap to allow access to the internal components. The removable cap can possibly be connected through suitable means to a cartridge containing the drying means.

Threaded caps made from aluminium or light alloy, as well as cylindrical caps equipped with at least one seat for the insertion of an O-ring that forms a seal against the wall of the collector pipe are commonly used. This second type of cap is generally made from aluminium alloy or else from moulded plastic material.

Known cylindrical caps are generally held in position by stop elements, or elastic safety rings, for example Seeger rings, positioned on the top of the caps themselves, which engage and form a seal in an annular seat or groove made on to inner wall of the collector pipe. The main drawback of this solution consists of the mechanical weakening of the whole circumference of the pipe caused by making the annular seat.

So as to be able to carry out the required processing, the thickness of the wall of the pipe, moreover, cannot be less than certain values that substantially restrict the minimum amount of material necessary for the production of the collector pipe.

The purpose of the present invention is that of making an improved collector for an air-conditioning unit for vehicles with reduced thickness and good mechanical strength.

Another purpose of the present invention is that of making an improved collector for an air-conditioning unit for vehicles that simplifies the mechanical processing with respect to current processing, as well as the assembly operations.

Another purpose of the present invention is that of making an improved collector for an air-conditioning unit for vehicles that is particularly simple and functional with low costs.

These and other purposes, according to the present invention, are accomplished by making an improved collector for an air-conditioning unit for vehicles as outlined in claim 1.

Further characteristics are foreseen in the dependent claims.

Further characteristics and advantages of an improved collector for an air-conditioning unit for vehicles, according to the present invention, shall become clearer from the following description, given as an example and not for limiting purposes, referring to the attached schematic drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an improved collector for an air-conditioning unit for vehicles according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a section view according to the line II-II of FIG. 1 of the collector according to the present invention partially split;

FIG. 3 is a partially interrupted top side view of the collector pipe of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross section carried out according to the line IV-IV of the collector of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a further embodiment of a cylindrical pipe for an improved collector according to the present invention.

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, a first embodiment of an improved collector for an air-conditioning unit for vehicles is shown, wholly indicated with reference numeral 10.

The collector 10 comprises a hollow cylinder 11 provided at one end with an opening 11A for the insertion of a filtering and drying means (not shown).

The opening 11A is suitable for receiving a substantially cylindrical cap 100, which, when inserted axially into such an opening 11A and secured in position by a stop element 20, closes the collector pipe 11 sealed when it is put under pressure.

The cap 100, in a preferred embodiment shown in section as a non-limiting example in FIG. 2, comprises many elements moulded in plastic material and stably coupled with each other.

The coupled elements form a succession of cylindrical portions with substantially the same diameter as the internal diameter of the pipe 11 and seats 15 with a smaller diameter for housing elastic sealing rings 14, for example O-rings, as shown in FIG. 2.

In the cap 100, for example, a first element 12 comprises a portion with the same diameter as the pipe 11 and two portions with a smaller diameter, as well as fastening means for a second element 13 and for a third element 16 arranged on opposite sides.

The first element 12, in the preferred embodiment shown, is made equipped with an inner recess 32 diametrically divided by transversal walls 33, one of which projects at one end of the cap 100 to form a gripping fin 34. The fin 34 is perforated close to the upper end to ease the removal of the cap 100 from the pipe 11.

The coupleable moulded elements 12, 13 and 16, which in the examples shown are stably coupled through pressure fastening means, or clamps, can also be ultrasound electrowelded, without it being necessary to foresee the possibility of disassembly of the assembled cap.

Moreover, as an example, the cap 100 shown in FIG. 2 comprises a spacer shaft 30 made integrally with it and able to be coupled with a cartridge integrated in the collector 100 (not shown, suitable for containing a drying means and a filtering means for the cooling liquid circulating in the collector pipe itself.

The collector pipe 10 is provided, in the portion adjacent to the insertion opening 11A, with two opposite slits or slots 21. The slits 21 are elongated and lie on the same diametric plane. The slits 21 are made as through holes that cross the entire thickness of the wall of the pipe 11.

The slits or slots 21, moreover, in further embodiments that are not shown, could also be in a number other than two, still arranged on a common diametric plane of the pipe 11.

The stop element 20 is an elastic safety ring comprising a C-shaped body 22 equipped with two wings 23 projecting outwards in a position diametrically opposite and coplanar to the body 22. The wings 23, which in further embodiments that are not shown could be in a number other than two, are always of a shape matching the slits 21 of the cylindrical pipe 11 and in a position corresponding to them.

The elastic safety ring 20, moreover, comprises a plurality of inner secondary wings 24 also coplanar to the body 22 and projecting radially inwards.

The stop element 20 equipped with inner wings 24 advantageously has a larger resting surface on the cap 100 with respect to the ring provided with just outer wings 23 (not shown), whilst still keeping a central body 22 that is sufficiently thin so that the ring 20 can be deformed, in other words stretched and then spread out, during the installation operations on the cap 100 inside the cylindrical pipe 11.

The safety ring 20 is mounted in the pipe 11 on the top of the cap 100 inserting the outer wings 23 inside the slits 21.

When the collector 10 in operation is put under pressure the cap 100 is held in axial position by the stop element 20 that forms a seal on the two wings 23 inside the slits or slots 21.

The cylindrical pipe 11 according to the present invention can be made with reduced thickness, without any processing of an annular groove inside the pipe being necessary.

The cylindrical pipe 11 with reduced thickness according to the present invention can be subjected to critical values in terms of concentration of mechanical stresses at the ends of the slits or slots 21.

To improve this critical situation, a further embodiment shown in FIG. 5 foresees that the pipe 11′ be equipped on the outer surface with reinforcement elements 25 arranged in a tangent position to the edges of the holes 21. The reinforcement elements are localised thickenings of the wall of the pipe 11 that, in a preferred embodiment, are made as longitudinal reinforcement ribs 25. Such ribs 25, which can advantageously be made in the extrusion step of the pipe 11′, extend for the entire length of said pipe 11′.

The cylindrical pipe of the improved collector for an air-conditioning unit for vehicles can advantageously be made with reduced thickness without penalising its mechanical characteristics. This means a significant reduction in weight of the aluminium used with a consequent substantial economic advantage.

Moreover, the assembly operations of the cap inside the cylindrical pipe are advantageously made easier in the collector according to the present invention. Indeed, it is possible to check the correct positioning of the safety ring directly from the slits made in the wall of the pipe.

The collector pipe according to the present invention can, moreover, advantageously be used with known closing caps of standardised size.

The improved collector pipe for an air-conditioning unit for vehicles thus conceived is susceptible to numerous modifications and variants, which are all covered by the invention itself; moreover, all of the details can be replaced with technically equivalent elements. In practice, the materials used, as well as their sizes, can be whatever according to the technical requirements. 

1. Improved collector for an air-conditioning unit for vehicles comprising a cylindrical pipe (11, 11′) provided at one end with an opening (11A) for the insertion of an integrated filtering and/or drying means, a substantially cylindrical cap (100) that can be inserted axially into said opening (11A) , as well as a stop element (20), which can be positioned on the top of said cap (100) and in engagement with said cylindrical pipe (11, 11′), characterised in that said stop element is an elastic safety ring (20) comprising a C-shaped body (22) and plurality of wings projecting outwards (23) coplanar to said body (22) and in that said cylindrical pipe (11, 11′) is provided in a portion adjacent to said opening (11A) with a plurality of slits, or slots, (21) lying on a common diametric plane and suitable for housing said wings (23), said wings (23) being of a shape substantially matching the shape of said slits (21) and in a position corresponding to the same slits (21).
 2. Collector according to claim 1, characterised in that said wings projecting outwards (23) and said slits (21) are, respectively, two in number and arranged on said common plane in a diametrically opposite position.
 3. Collector according to claim 1, characterised in that said elastic safety ring (20) is equipped with a plurality of secondary wings (24) projecting inwards from said body (22) and coplanar to it.
 4. Collector according to claim 1, characterised in that said cylindrical pipe (11′) comprises reinforcement elements (25) arranged in a position tangent to the edges of the holes (21).
 5. Collector according to claim 4, characterised in that said reinforcement elements are longitudinal reinforcement ribs (25).
 6. Collector according to claim 5, characterised in that said longitudinal ribs (25) extend along the entire length of the pipe (11).
 7. Collector according to claim 1, characterised in that said cap (100) is made up of a plurality of elements (12, 13, 16) stably coupled together and forming a succession of cylindrical portions with substantially the same diameter as the internal diameter of the pipe (11) and seats (15) with a smaller diameter for housing elastic sealing rings (14).
 8. Collector according to claim 7, characterised in that a first moulded element (12) is internally hollow and equipped in said recess (32) with at least one transversal wall (33), projecting at one end to form a gripping fin (34).
 9. Collector according to claim 7, characterised in that a third element (16) is moulded integrally with a spacer shaft (30) suitable for being connected to a cartridge containing the filtering and/or drying means. 